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Friday, September 4, 2009

Silhouette City

One of the films, Kassim The Dream screened at the Roxie in August. I deliberately saw fewer films in August than a typical month because I was fatigued and I knew September would be busy if I saw half the films I want to see.

Another of the films that I missed at the 2008 DocFest was Silhouette City. The filmmakers found my blog and offered me a screener but I decided not to request one as I barely have enough time as it is.

Peter M. Hargrove, the producer of the film, sent me an email announcing that the film is opening at the Roxie on September 11 and a link to the electronic press kit.

Silhouette City is an immersive journey through the recent history of American apocalypticism. Using archival video, movement propaganda and original investigative material, the film tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism and its most extreme adherents from the margins to the mainstream, the military and beyond. The film examines the striking ideological and rhetorical similarities between The Covenant, The Sword & The Arm Of The Lord (CSA) - a group that provided the model for militia group activity in the 1990s - and the mainstream Christian Right of today. It reveals how the apocalyptic intensity and rhetoric of final warfare are symptoms of those impulses opposed to cultural openness - and as the formal and conceptual methods of propagandizing their struggle are laid bare - the CSA provides a case study in grassroots response to right-wing apocalyptic impulses. This sense of urgent desire for radical closure will find its expression - whether it be grassroots organizing, hate speech or direct violence.

Unfortunately, the film appears to be booked for the Little Roxie. As I've complained before, the Little Roxie is perhaps the worst permanent theater venue I've been to. I've seen films in facilities that were not intended for film screening such as classrooms or rec rooms but the Little Roxie is used 7 days a week. Did I mention that the noise from the adjacent bar is audible as well as the sounds of the film/DVD projector in the booth? It gets uncomfortably warm when they sell out all the seats which is about 40 "permanent" but unbolted theater seats. When they sell out, they bring in additonal folding metal chairs for placement at the end of each aisle.

Anyway, September 11 is the first day of PFA vs. Castro Noir Duel. That's just another way of saying, I don't know if I will go see Silhouette City unless it gets a long run at the Roxie.